Students at area Catholic high schools joined picket lines today to show support for striking Unifor 2458 members.
"To make a demonstration for the people on strike here that we are united. Our school board wanted school to continue business as usual and as students and as a student body we wanted to show that that's not how it's going to happen," says St. Joseph's Grade 12 student Thomas Buchan.
Representative from the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board Stephen Fields says the usual attendance policy will apply for students missing classes today. The usual repercussion for ditching class is detention.
"As a board we respect the rights of students to express their opinion but we don't think walking out is the most effective way to do that. Our students have already lost enough teaching time because of lengthy delays at the picket line," says Stephen Fields.
Buchan says the student council has also cancelled some extra curricular activities.
"By running a semi-formal we would need custodians there to clean up and we're not going to hire scab labourers to do that for them. We're not going to collect any money for anything because our secretaries aren't there to account for it. We're doing this to show how vital all of our support staff is to our school community," says Buchan.
Students say they have been threatened by some in the school that if they support the striking employees the board will disband their student council. Fields says he has not heard that and cannot imagine anyone who would suggest that.
Buchan says he hopes this encourages the board to get back to the negotiating table.
"The board is not unwilling to negotiate," says Fields. "A provincial mediator as been assigned to the case and if they see reason for getting both sides back to the table we would be more than happy to return at the discretion of the mediator."
The 370 Unifor 2458 members have been on strike since Monday.
